Pasta alla gricia (spaghetti with guanciale)

Name: Pasta alla gricia (spaghetti with guanciale)
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 400 g rigatoni or spaghetti; 200 g guanciale (pork jowl) or good pancetta, cut into 1 cm strips; 100 g pecorino romano, finely grated; 1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper; salt for the cooking water

Time: 25 min4 servingsapprox. 770 kcal / serving (estimated)approx. 29 g protein / serving

Pasta alla gricia is the ancestor of amatriciana and carbonara: just pasta, crisp guanciale, pecorino and pepper, with no tomato and no egg. It's the food of Roman shepherds, and it shows that with good ingredients three or four elements are enough.

Pasta alla gricia (spaghetti with guanciale) (illustration)

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Ingredients

400 g rigatoni or spaghetti
200 g guanciale (pork jowl) or good pancetta, cut into 1 cm strips
100 g pecorino romano, finely grated
1 tsp freshly crushed black pepper
salt for the cooking water

Method

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Bring plenty of lightly salted water to a boil and cook the pasta al dente; set aside 200 ml of the cooking water.
Meanwhile, put the guanciale into a cold, dry frying pan and cook over medium heat for 10-12 minutes, until the fat renders and the edges are crisp.
Stir the crushed pepper into the fat and warm it for 30 seconds.
Take the pan off the heat, add half a ladle of cooking water and toss in the drained pasta.
In the pan, toss the pasta with half the pecorino and a little cooking water until you have a silky, glossy sauce.
Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve immediately.

Source: Wikibooks Cookbook – Pasta alla Gricia (Pasta with Guanciale) (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted and translated. This page is also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Tips

Start the guanciale in a cold pan: the fat renders more slowly and it gets crisper.
Toss the pasta with the sauce in the pan at the end, so it absorbs the flavours.
If you can't find guanciale, good-quality smoked pancetta or cured bacon comes close.

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between gricia and carbonara?

Carbonara needs egg as well; gricia gets creamy with just cheese and fat, no egg.

Can I add tomato?

Then it becomes amatriciana.

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